Electronic components with a semiconductor chip and a wiring board can be protected from damage by a plastic package molding compound, as known from the patent specification U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,755. The application of such a plastic package molding compound is performed, for example, by a high-pressure injection-molding process, in which the high pressure rules out the possibility of air bubbles being able to become lodged in the plastic package. If high pressure is not used, vacuum systems are required for printing the plastic package molding compound onto a lead frame, in which systems individual electronic components or a lead frame with a number of electronic components have a plastic package molding compound printed onto them. In this way, air inclusions are avoided in the case of vacuum printing, since the entire operation is carried out in a vacuum with the exclusion of air.
A vacuum printing system suitable for vacuum printing to enclose a semiconductor chip or a number of semiconductor chips in a plastic package molding compound is extremely costly and time-intensive, since the entire printing system has to be accommodated in a vacuum unit and the printing operation has to proceed in a vacuum chamber. In the case of a high-pressure pressing system for applying a plastic package, it is in turn necessary to produce mold parts which are resistant to high pressure and must in some cases withstand an injection molding pressure in excess of 150 bar, which likewise drives up costs.